China

China

China’s train to Spain arrived in the city of Yiwu this week after completing the world’s longest rail route, and while the journey has been billed as a “success” by its operator, there is little information on the actual economics of the rail option to Europe.

A strategic partnership between UTi Worldwide and Changjiu Logistics, the largest independent automotive logistics company in China, will be making good use of the growing rail services linking China and Europe.

Twenty-one days after leaving the east China manufacturing city of Yiwu more than 8,000 miles away, a freight train carrying 40 containers arrived in the Spanish capital of Madrid this week, potentially opening yet another land bridge between China and Europe.

Shanghai may be the busiest container port in the world, but almost half the boxes that cross its wharves every year are first carried down the mighty Yangtze River from manufacturing hubs deep inland.

Container ship owner-charterer Seaspan Corp. is considering an acquisition of Greater China Intermodal Investments, the Carlyle Group investment vehicle with which Seaspan partnered in 2011 to purchase new ships.